News that three West Windsor massage parlors were raided on charges of prostitution and human trafficking activities has township authorities looking at ways to prevent such activity in the future.
According to Chief Joseph Pica, part of the alternative ways to combat illegal activity at massage parlors is to implement an ordinance that requires massage parlors to be licensed.
“There are legitimate masseuses,” he said. “If we have some licensing, maybe we’ll have a better hand on what goes on.”
Last month West Windsor police and federal law enforcement and immigration agents raided three West Windsor massage parlors on charges of prostitution and human trafficking activities.
Employees at Bodyworks Massage, at 83 Princeton-Hightstown Road; Oriental Moon Massage, on 702 Alexander Road; and Min’s Health Center, on 222 Washington Road, were taken in for questioning on October 26, after police executed search warrants at all three locations.
Authorities also seized $15,000 in cash, as well as computers, surveillance equipment and financial documents. Computer hard drives will be examined forensically by the West Windsor Police Department Forensic Unit to identify individuals on the surveillance video and to decipher any financial records, police said.
Employees of the massage parlors were brought back to the West Windsor Police Department headquarters, where immigration officials and translators were on hand to interview and process them. According to police, one of the six employees is being placed into deportation proceedings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for undisclosed immigration issues.
West Windsor police said that charges are pending based on the investigative findings.
The execution of the search warrants came as a result of a four-month investigation into possible prostitution and human trafficking at the massage parlors. “Most of the massage parlors in this investigation were doing business within a half mile of a school or child care center,” the press release stated.
The West Windsor Detective Bureau, the West Windsor Tactical Team, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Investigations Units, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and agents from Immigration & Customs Enforcement teamed up for the investigation.
The story generated comments on www.WWPinfo.com, where residents alleged that there were two other massage parlors operating on Route 571 in town, speculating that there could be similarly shady activity going on.
“We are aware that there are several others in our town,” said Pica. “We are looking at alternatives to address this situation. We have limited resources, but we are doing the best we can with our resources.”
“We were very fortunate to have the FBI give us a hand with the last investigation,” added Pica. “That combination of all the resources made it a more efficient operation.”
